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What is Thrush???

Re: What is Thrush???

Thrush is a yeast infection of the mouth, that can also infect the mother's nipples and possibly her milk ducts as well. Symptoms in the baby are white patches on the tongue and/or inside of cheeks, that do not come off if rubbed with a cloth.
Symptoms of thrush on the nipples can be burning, itching nipples. Pain during latch, usually increasing after the feeding. Sore nipples can also be caused by poor latch and dry/cracked nipples so it can be tricky to diagnose, but if the pain persists even with a good latch, it may be thrush.

Re: What is Thrush???

Thrush is an infection caused by an overgrowth of the naturally occuring yeast in our bodies. It thrives in excess in moist, dark, warm areas, generally the mouth and genitals.

As PP mentioned, in the baby it can appear as white, cheesy patches inside the baby's mouth, on the cheeks and gums, and a whiteness on the tongue that cannot be wiped away. It can also cause a diaper rash.

You can get it on your nipples too and sometimes deeper in the breast, the most common symptom is pain, itching and burning, but can also make your nipples appear red, bright pink, purple, shiny, or dry. You don't have to have syptoms to have thrush though.

Re: What is Thrush???

Thrush is satan. Evil, evil itchy painful satan of the breast.

Seriously, though, I only wanted to add that when trying to figure out if you LO has thrush in his/her mouth, don't confuse the natural whiteness of his gums in the molar area with the thrush white/milky looking tongue. That's all, and I hope you don't have it!!